1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to display and transport of floral arrangements. In particular, the present invention pertains to a floral retaining structure for display of a floral arrangement and a transport container employing the floral retaining structure to maintain the floral arrangement intact during transport and/or shipping.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, flowers may be arranged in various fashions for an aesthetically pleasing appearance (e.g., bouquets, etc.). However, these floral arrangements tend to be delicate and may easily become disarrayed during handling. This problem is exacerbated with respect to shipping the floral arrangement by a common carrier (e.g., shipping services company, governmental postal system, etc.). For example, shipping a floral arrangement via the common carrier typically requires the floral arrangement (and the container including the floral arrangement) to withstand vibration, impact and various orientations (e.g., sideways, upside down, etc.) during shipping. Since conventional packaging solutions for floral arrangements do not provide an adequate solution that is practical for shipping, florists or other floral professionals are limited to hand deliver the floral arrangements, thereby limiting their market reach to the delivery area around them. Even with employing the hand carry delivery approach, the floral arrangements are still delicate and special care is preferably employed to maintain the arrangements intact.
Moreover, some floral arrangement structures employ holding materials to secure flowers thereto. However, these types of floral arrangement structures tend to place the material into a container that may significantly limit the useable surface area of the material, thereby restricting the design and quantity of flowers that may be secured. Floral arrangements that do not employ a container for the holding material may create problems during shipping since there is generally no manner to attach or fasten the material to the packaging or shipping container, thereby enabling the floral arrangements to become disarrayed during shipping and handling. Thus, the conventional display and shipping configurations described above are inadequate to maintain the floral arrangements intact under the conditions accompanying handling of the configurations, especially for floral arrangements that utilize substantially the entire floral holding material and need to be presented on a flat surface, such as a plate.